Failure Is Not an Option
Subtitle: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: April 12, 2000
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 416
ISBN-13: 9780743200790
Subjects: Space travel & exploration; Systems engineering; Manned space flight; Space Exploration; United States; Technology; Science; Science/Mathematics; Scientists - General; Aeronautics & Astronautics; General; Biography & Autobiography / General; Astronautics; Ground support systems (Astron; Ground support systems (Astronautics); History
First sentence: At some time in the hours that followed that terse announcement from Apollo 13, many of us in NASA's Mission Control Center wondered if we were going to lose the crew.
Description: "Kranz was flight director for both Apollo 11, the mission in which Neil Armstrong fulfilled President Kennedy's pledge, and Apollo 13. He headed the Tiger Team that had to figure out how to bring the three Apollo 13 astronauts safely back to Earth. (In the film Apollo 13, Kranz was played by the actor Ed Harris, who earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance.)".

"In Failure Is Not an Option, Gene Kranz recounts these historic events and offers new information about the famous flights. What appeared as nearly flawless missions to the Moon were, in fact, a series of hair-raising near misses. When the space technology failed, as it sometimes did, the controllers' only recourse was to rely on their skills and those of their teammates.

Kranz takes us inside Mission Control and introduces us to some of the whiz kids - still in their twenties, only a few years out of college - who had to figure it all out as they went along, creating a great and daring enterprise. He reveals behind-the-scenes details to demonstrate the leadership, discipline, trust, and teamwork that made the space program a success."--BOOK JACKET.